DIY VIRAL
The author Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Explosive success Dungeons and Dragons podcasts incl Adventure Zone, Not another Dungeons and Dragons Podcastand rotating characters, has helped make the classic board game more popular than ever. Critical rolethe largest and most successful actual playback podcast, even turned its campaign into an animated series, The Legend of Vox Machinaon Amazon Prime, but it wasn't the first D&D campaign to become a series. 1990 anime Lodoss War Record brought to life author Ryo Mizuno's homebrewing game.
The actual play before the podcast
Lodoss War Record began as a serialized “rerun” in the Japanese magazine Comptiq as a transcript of Mizuno's D&D sessions. Using Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition as the basis for a high fantasy story featuring an adventuring party of Woodchuck, Slaine, Etoh, Parn, Deedlit and Ghlima, each representing a different class of the game. Taking on the king's mission, the adventuring party begins with the green dragon very angry, and the stakes only rise from there.
As anyone who has ever played a Dungeons and Dragons the campaign knows, the adventure has a rhythm, and Lodoss War Record captures the same crescendo with grand mysteries, betrayals and a final battle that shakes the heavens. No anime since, not even Murderers or Delicious in Dungeon, has brought the campaign to life in the same way. The original series is only 13 episodes long, so it moves faster than any home campaign.
Old-School Fantasy Throwback
To say that Lodoss War Record would be an instant hit, that would be an understatement. The original novels, written by Ryo Mizuno before the anime, have sold over 10 million copies in Japan, over a dozen video games, tabletop role-playing games, and two spin-off franchises, Legend of Crystania and Rune Soldier. Both spin-offs take place after the end of the original series and explore what happened to some of the cast after the final battle. Record of the War of Lodoss: Chronicles of a Heroic Knightreleased in 1998, reunites (most of) the party for a 27-episode series that benefits from a better mix of animation and music, but doesn't have the same appeal as the original.
To date, there have been highly successful fantasy animes including Freeze: Beyond Journey's End who have pushed the medium forward with bold storytelling and fantastic new take on old tropes. Still, there's something to be said for a series like Lodoss War Record covering classic tropes from young Parn's rise to leadership, hitting all the classic RPG beats, to the isolationist elves Deedlit tries to save and Woodchuck the thief, and with that one word description you know exactly what to expect. There's nothing wrong with a cliche anime every now and then, and for the most part, the 1990 series has aged well and is still great to watch today.
Role-playing games, incl Dungeons and Dragonshave changed over the years so “Elf” is no longer a class and goblins are no longer forced to be an evil race; coming back to watch Lodoss War Record is like opening a time capsule containing THAC0. It's rough around the edges, Pirotess The Dark Elf's design is pure fan service, and the plot doesn't beat the first seasons Adventure Zone, NaDDPoDor Critical rolebut it's fun to go back to where it all started.
If you've never watched Lodoss War Recordyou can stream it on Crunchyroll.
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DIY VIRAL
